- DON’T DON’T DON’T LET’S START: Heading into the first game of the season, there are always questions about who’s starting. As Head Coach Adrian Heath frequently says, he doesn’t pick the team — the players pick themselves with their work in practice. In the final preseason game, we saw Dayne St. Clair in goal, Brent Kallman in at centerback for the injured Bakaye Dibassy, Wil Trapp at the #6 position instead of Osvaldo Alonso and Robin Lod up top in the false 9 role we played so successfully in the playoffs last year. It may take newcomer Ramón Ábila some time to get to full match fitness after just arriving last week and with Alonso now 35, it’s reasonable to expect Trapp to start most games this season. Heath has long favored the 4-2-3-1 but we've also seen him go to a 4-3-3 for specific matchups and the Sounders on the road is one that could be ripe for three midfielders.
- THE OLD MEN AND THE SEATTLE: Another of Heath’s favorite canards is that if you’re not moving forwards in this league, you’re moving backwards. So is it possible that the mighty Sounders — who’ve made the playoffs every year of their existence in MLS, including winning it all two years ago and going to the Final last year — will lose a step without Jordan Morris and Gustav Svensson this season? Nico Lodeiro is on one hand, ageless, but on the other hand, 32, and it’s impossible to overstate his importance to the team. Retaining João Paulo was a good bit of business but both he and standout striker Raul Ruidiaz are 30 and goalkeeper Stefan Frei is 34. With Morris last year, Seattle’s starting XI was already the second-oldest by average age in the league. It’s far too soon to be counting out any team as tough and experienced as the Sounders out — especially led by Brian Schmetzer — but if Seattle can’t lock down a top four seed in the Western Conference come the end of the season, collective age could be a big part of the reason.
- WITNESS THE FIREPOWER OF THIS FULLY OPERATIONAL REYNOSO: Emanuel Reynoso led the team in assists with seven last year and he only played in 13 games. Then in three playoff games he racked up another seven assists. Using the handy formula Δv/Δt, it’s clear that over a full 34-game season he should have … 238 assists in 2021. But seriously: the Argentine midfielder brought a flair and sense of space and timing to the No. 10 position that opened up the game for just about everyone on the field. Add in a willingness to get after it and defend from the front and it’s fairly clear: Reynoso is the most skilled and most complete player the Loons have ever had on the pitch. When it comes to that playmaker role, the best make other even better by making their jobs easier and that was definitely the case for players from Kevin Molino to Ethan Finlay to Robin Lod last year. With former teammate Ábila now in the fray as a target, the sky is the limit for the ex-Boca Juniors player.
- HASSANI-THING YOU WANT, HE’S GOT IT: Although the U.S. Men’s U23s ended their quest for qualification in the next Olympics in disappointing fashion, Hassani Dotson was anything but for the team, scoring twice off the bench in a 4-0 thrashing of the Dominican Republic. Dotson has already been the first player off the bench in many situations for Heath and has more than stepped up when asked to start for Minnesota United. The question this season will be: How long before he makes his case to start every game? With experience at fullback, defensive midfielder, central midfielder and now with a little time playing in a wider role in the attacking midfield with the U23s, it seems like only a matter of time before the 23-year-old Dotson stakes a claim to one of those spots on a regular basis for the Loons.
